Tuesday, June 16, 2015

How To Create a Short List of Your Gazillion Wonderful Services

If you are a professional services business you may find it difficult to explain all you do. Unless you can specifically say, "I clean houses" or "I am a dentist" or "I am a massage therapist", it can be daunting to describe the realm of benefits you can bring to a customer.Always remember this: Clear communication is key to every successful business. Here's an example of a recent communication dilemma. One of my clients offers advice on financial planning. I noticed his list of services included 9 categories containing 58 items. My job was to refine his message of services to be more clear and help him more easily market his primary services.It is true that he can assist people with that many categories and items, but how in the world do you explain that in the few seconds or minutes you have with a client or potential client? Here are 6 steps you may find helpful to narrow down your services message: 1. Make a list of everything you can do for a client. Everything. 2. If you have a long list of more than 5 things, determine a few categories. 3. Now, start adding each of your extra items under the appropriate category. 4. Determine if you personally provide the service or if you outsource the service. If you outsource the service, put an line through ones that are usually outsourced.

5. If you have more than three items under some categories, eliminate or re-word those to reduce the number. Make sure you have -0- duplicates on the page. It is ideal if you end up with -0- items under each category. Brief is brilliant!

Your work should look similar to this when you have finished:

My
Services

Customer
Loyalty

Marketing
& Brand Identity

Strategic
Planning

Leadership
Development

Now you are ready to create your elevator message, that "thing" you say to let people know how you can help them. Stay tuned for the next blog post for easy tips on getting your elevator message just right!